Black donors in focus

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Encouraging and developing African American philanthropy is the focus of a $100,000 grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in Battle Creek, Mich., to the Winston-Salem Foundation.

The two-year grant will be used to develop a burgeoning black philanthropy initiative the foundation launched in 2001 with $50,000 each from its own ECHO Fund and from the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation, also in Winston-Salem.

The initiative was formed in the wake of a 2000 national study of “social capital” — civic ties in a community — that gave Winston-Salem poor marks for “leadership diversity.”

Still in its early stages, the initiative has assembled a group of nine black leaders to identify and build on patterns of black philanthropy.

The ECHO Fund, which the foundation launched in 2000, is investing $2.5 million over five years to build and expand social capital.